LP 
A  3407 


i. 


The  Green  Book 
of  the  Bards 


By 
Bliss  Carman 


^ ^  f  ^  j^  i/t>  tr.  /^^^Li G^   ..D^ 


The 

Green  Book 
of  the 
Bards 


THERE  is  a  book  not  written 
By  any  human  hand, 
The  prophets  all  have  studied, 
The  priests  have  always  banned. 


I  read  it  every  morning, 
I  ponder  it  by  night ; 

And  Death  shall  overtake  me 
Trimming  my  humble  light. 


5 


198448 


THE      GREEN       BOOK 

He  Ml  say,  as  did  my  father 

When  I  was  young  and  small, 
"  My  son,  no  time  for  reading! 

The  night  awaits  us  all/' 

He  '11  smile,  as  did  my  father 

When  I  was  small  and  young. 
That  I  should  be  so  eager 

Over  an  unknown  tongue. 

Then  I  would  leave  my  volume 

And  willingly  obey,  — 
Get  me  a  little  slumber 

Against  another  day. 


w 


OF        THE        BARDS 

Cont«  .    thit  he  who  taught  me 

Should  bid  me  sleep  awhile, 
I  would  expect  the  morning 

To  bring  his  courtly  smile ; 

New  verses  to  decipher, 

New  chapters  to  explore, 
While  loveliness  and  wisdom 

Grew  ever  more  and  more  ! 


For  who  could  ever  tire 
Of  that  wild  legendry, 

The  folklore  of  the  mountains, 
The  drama  of  the  sea  ? 


7 


THE      GREEN       BOOK 

I  pore  for  days  together 

Over  some  lost  refrain,  — 
The  epic  of  the  thunder, 

The  lyric  of  the  rain. 

This  was  the  creed  and  canon 

Of  Jefferies  and  Thoreau, 
And  all  the  free  believers 

Who  worshipped  long  ago. 

Here  Amiel  in  sadness, 

And  Burns  in  pure  delight. 
Sought  for  the  hidden  import 

Of  man's  eternal  plight. 


8 


OF        THE        BARDS 

No  Xenophon  and  Caesar 

This  master  had  for  guides, 
Yet  here  are  well  recorded 

The  marches  of  the  tides. 


Here  are  the  marks  of  greatness 
Accomplished  without  noise. 

The  Elizabethan  vigour, 
And  the  Landorian  poise ; 


The  sweet  Chaucerian  temper. 
Smiling  at  all  defeats  ; 

The  gusty  moods  of  Shelley, 
The  autumn  calms  of  Keats. 


9 


THE      GREEN       BOOK 

Here  were  derived  the  gospels 

Of  Emerson  and  John  ; 
*T  was  with  this  revelation 

The  face  of  Moses  shone. 


Here  Blake  and  Job  and  Omar 
The  author's  meaning  traced  ; 

Here  Virgil  got  his  sv/eetness, 
And  Arnold  his  unhaste. 


Here  Horace  learned  to  question, 
And  Browning  to  reply, 

When  soul  stood  up  on  trial 
For  her  mortality. 


lO 


OF        THE        BARDS 

And  all  these  lovely  spirits 

Who  read  in  the  great  book, 
Then  went  away  in  silence 

With  their  illumined  look, 

Left  comment,  as  art  furnished 

A  margin  for  their  skill,  — 
Their  guesses  at  the  secret 

Whose  gist  eludes  us  still. 


And  still  in  that  green  volume. 
With  ardour  and  with  youth 

Undaunted,  my  companions 
Are  searching  for  the  truth. 


II 


THE      GREEN       BOOK 

One  page,  entitled  Grand  Pre, 

Has  the  idyllic  air 
That  Bion  might  have  envied : 

I  set  a  footnote  there. 


OF        THE         BARDS 


ONE  HUNDRED  COPIES  PRINTED  BY 
WILL  BRADLEY  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A.,  IN  DECEMBER,  1898 
FOR  BLISS  CARMAN  AND  HIS  FRIENDS 


